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Mark your calendars for some fun activities this coming week. Swinomish Yacht Club Opening Day Boat Parade, 3-4 p.m. Saturday, May 4. Grab a viewing spot along the La Conner boardwalk at the Swinomish Channel for the "Under the Sea" theme parade of members' decorated yachts. Salish Sea Early Music Festival, 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, Fir-Conway Lutheran Church, 18101 Fir Island Road. "Renaissance Psalms, Irish Baroque and Folk: Three Centuries of Folk Song" features guitarist Oleg Timofeyev and flut...
Jan Paul, Shelter Bay board of directors treasurer since July 2023, announced her resignation in a way that was as surprising as it was low key at the end of the monthly board meeting last Wednesday, April 17, at the organization’s clubhouse. Without naming individuals, she cited a pattern of problems, including being disrespected and untrusted, saying, “Unfortunately, during my time as a board member, I feel that I have been only a ‘placeholder’ with no ability to function as a board member should. It has become increasingly apparent over th...
The Swinomish Tax Authority uses the same levy rate for 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021: $11.98 per $1,000. The assessed value of homes in Shelter Bay, Pull & Be Damned and Thousand Trails increased from $206,399,050 to $262,085,926. The Swinomish Tribal Community has the right to collect $3,139,456 in taxes from Shelter Bay, Pull & Be Damned and Thousand Trails in 2024. Last year they collected $2,440,832. After deducting contributions, exemptions, uncollectable taxes and taxes shared with the county, the Tribe will have an estimated $1,958,197...
A recent training exercise was so well-received that Skagit County Fire District 13 officials are considering another such drill in the La Conner area later this year. The March 30 windstorm scenario was so successful that the local fire district, which serves rural La Conner and the Swinomish Reservation, may stage a wildland fire training event during the peak of dry summer conditions here. “I suggest we have a similar drill for a wildland fire on the reservation,” Capt. Ted Taylor told fire district commissioners during their meeting at the...
Working with several documents the past few weeks, members of the Town Emergency Management Commission are now on the same page. The local advisory board, which is developing a Community Emergency Management Plan for La Conner, has moved closer to completing the ambitious project after reviewing similar plans from Skagit County, the City of Anacortes, Shelter Bay, the Swinomish Tribal Community and other entities. Commissioners indicated during their April 2 public meeting that they’re ready to consolidate those outside resource materials i...
My name is Wood Weiss and I am the Chief of Skagit Fire District 13. Recently people have been asking me about the upcoming ballot measure for the countywide Emergency Medical Services (EMS) levy renewal. I thought it might help to clarify who we are as a fire district and how the EMS levy impacts us and the people we serve. Our district provides Fire and EMS protection for a 71 square mile area, which includes the Swinomish Tribal Reservation (Tribal village, Shelter Bay, Snee Oosh beach area, Casino), farmlands east of the Swinomish channel,...
The tide-based currents in the Swinomish Channel may offer a local source of reliable, predictable renewable energy. Several people have asked me whether this natural resource could be developed to power greater La Conner, including Shelter Bay and Swinomish Village. A tidal energy system must be durable, reliable and capable of being installed and maintained cost-effectively in salt water. Doing all this has been challenging, so the engineering needed to extract energy from tidal currents...
Barbara A. Hammer 1944-2024 Shelter Bay/La Conner resident Barbara Ann Hammer died peacefully at age 79 on Tuesday, March 12, at Rosario Assisted Living in Anacortes. Barbara was born to Billy Stanford and Anna Lorene Boehm on June 15, 1944, and grew up in Southern California. She was preceded in death by her sister and brother. In 1978, Barbara married Karl C. Hammer, who passed away in August 2015. They moved to Washington 29 years ago from California, where Barbara worked in the airline...
You play how you practice. That was the mantra shared last Thursday by Skagit County Fire District 13 Commission chair Bruce Shellhamer, a former Sedro-Woolley High School sports standout. He wasn’t alluding to athletics. He was talking about the fire district’s upcoming March 30 windstorm exercise. The training will engage HAM radio operators, volunteers at the Shelter Bay Disaster Assistance Center, a mobile Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trailer, and residents who will post “Help/OK” placards in their windows to inform emergen...
To the editor: I have lived in Shelter Bay for 24 years this month. We have had good times and troubled times as spring mends from the winter. Our community is also on the mend. First, I want to thank all the volunteers and staff for their rugged, thankless work over the years. Today, I am watching the cleaning of blackberries from the greenbelt. I picture a few picnic tables under the trees. From my window, I can see the new playground equipment waiting to be installed. The tennis courts are alive with players, and more people are out and...
Earth, wind and fire. It's not just a famous 1970s soul band. The three elements also represent threats to the vacant and dilapidated Moore-Clark warehouse and areas around the former industrial hub, a landmark on the La Conner waterfront since 1898. Residents wary of the building's vulnerabilities shared their concerns with the Town Emergency Management Commission during its March 5 meeting at Maple Hall. "I think of Lahaina," Lori Wise, who has a background in real estate development, said of...
When the Supreme Court took up the issue of presidential immunity, it became even more doubtful that the former president’s criminal trials could be completed before election day. So what is a voter to do without a trial? I say, look to information that can be relied upon with confidence. We all experienced the horror of Jan. 6, 2021. Many of the 91 counts charged against the president in various indictments relate to the events of that day. But what do we know without a trial? We know a lot. We know from uncontroverted reports that a United S...
The five Shelter Bay Community board directors sued by former community resident Jan Henrie almost a year ago are making another attempt to dismiss Henrie’s Skagit County Superior Court civil complaint alleging breach of fiduciary duty and malfeasance. Defendants Wendy Poulton, Monte Hicks, Louise Kari, Elaine Dixon and Joseph Hurley filed a motion for reconsideration Feb. 20, arguing she has no standing, or right to bring her claims. Their attorneys’ motion for reconsideration follows a Feb. 8 order by Judge Laura Riquelme stating “the Court...
Shelter Bay Board of Director Dan McCaughan resigned in late February. An email to residents from the Shelter Bay Community announced his resignation Feb. 28 and broadcast the “immediate board position opening” seeking applicants to replace him. The deadline is no later than May 25 for a term through June 30, 2026. An earlier deadline may be set to fill the seat sooner. McCaughan resigned for personal reasons, the email said. At its Feb. 21 board meeting, the Shelter Bay Company directors – the same as the Community’s board – sanctione...
To those wondering whatever happened to that March 2023 Skagit County Superior Court civil complaint against five Shelter Bay Community board members, alleged to have breached their fiduciary duty and for malfeasance by a property owner, an update is on page 1. It was last April that the court denied an injunction and temporary restraining order that would have prevented the board members from making financial decisions. But Judge Laura Riquelme did not dismiss the case, though in August she issued a stay, preventing the plaintiff’s attorneys f...
Much concern has been raised regarding the former president’s attorneys’ attempts to delay, delay, delay his pending criminal trials. Some fear that unless the former president is convicted in a court of law prior to election day, the conduct alleged against him may not be considered by voters. As a retired prosecutor, I believe the law applies equally to all. Also, the due process clause of the Constitution accords every criminal defendant the presumption of innocence unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. As a conscientious cit...
Emergency management has been a priority here since channel flooding in 2022 swamped waterfront and low-lying areas. Attention turned last week to fears of catastrophes and disaster at the dilapidated former Moore-Clark warehouse building at South First and Caledonia streets. A fixture in La Conner since before the turn of the century – to the 20th century– and once part of a bustling hatchery fish food processing plant and longtime local industrial hub, it was constructed as a grain war...
Last Thursday I reached out to Rep. Dave Paul (and our two other state reps as well) and shared my frustrations and asked for help over the La Conner Drug Store closing. Here is the core of my message to Rep. Paul: Don’t know if you can do anything about this but I feel you should know that Rite Aid just purchased our only local pharmacy – La Conner Drug. This little business was first established in 1877. The corporate chain operation made this acquisition only to close the store and transfer the prescription files to their store in Ana...
As a long-time (14 years) La Conner resident I have appreciated having certain local services such as a local bank branch, a grocery store, a pharmacy and a local newspaper. It has meant that I don’t need to travel far for services, supplies and information. I like personally knowing the people with whom I do business. This is the advantage of small-town living. Then I read the stunning news of the closure of the La Conner Drug Store! I have steadfastly used their pharmacy for my several prescriptions refusing mail-order offers of ...
As a voracious reader, I was dismayed to read in the Jan. 9 edition of The Washington Post that 46% of Americans did not read a single book in 2023. Close to a million books are traditionally published each year in the U.S. Here in La Conner, we have an outstanding new library and a wonderful independent bookstore. With all the books available in a wide number of genres (non-fiction and fiction, including literary, historical, thriller/suspense, mystery/crime, science-fiction, romance, westerns, fantasy, young adult, graphic, etc.), there is...
In the event of a disaster, the single most important factor for an effective response will be availability of information, La Conner Emergency Management Commission member Jerry George said last week. “And that information,” he stressed, “has to be accurate.” George and the advisory panel are attentive to communications and information systems well ahead of the next flood, earthquake, windstorm, cold snap or heat wave. At its Jan. 2 meeting at Maple Hall commissioners heard from Skagit County Emergency Management Coordinator Joan Cromley...
Majel G. Shuler, 95, of La Conner, WA passed away peacefully on Dec. 22, 2023, in Burlington, WA. Majel was born on July 25, 1928, in Aberdeen, WA. She graduated from Mount Vernon High School in 1946. After high school Majel met the love of her life, Dale Shuler, and the two were married on Nov. 20, 1948. They started a family in Concrete, WA and then moved to Snohomish, WA where they raised three children. Dale and Majel moved to Shelter Bay in La Conner, WA in 1987 and became snowbirds spendin...
The calendar has flipped from December to January; 2023 to 2024. That means it’s a general election year. And the first local polling are two Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Senate primary races later this month. Six candidates, including the incumbents, are vying for a pair of five-year terms on the 11-member tribal governing body. Sen. Eric Day, first elected in 2019, faces challenges from Rodney John and James Bobb for Senate Seat No. 10. Three-term senator Brian Wilbur is seeking re-election to Seat No. 10, opposed by Bruce James and M...
Many, maybe all of us, received a check from our state attorney general, Bob Ferguson. He said it was for me being overcharged for chicken. I don’t know how he knew how much chicken I bought but because of his being a candidate for governor, I suspect it made no difference: He probably just wanted to buy my vote. I am going to send my check to his Republican opponent because I noticed he said in the letter “the corporations must pay,” not that they have paid. If some of them don’t pay he will be using our tax dollars to fund his campaig...
Dear La Conner Weekly news team, Simply put: thank you. Thank you for all of the effort you put into your stories, for connecting with the community and for the quality of your work. Your publication is a large part of what helped my spouse and I make the giant leap of faith into putting down roots of our own here. You helped us fall in love with La Conner, her history and people, while also bringing reality of daily life and important local issues to our attention. Thank you for being our storytellers, megaphone and mirror. Happy New Year!...
